Marcos Hortes Nisihara Chagas, Natália Mota de Souza Chagas, Flávia de Lima Osório
Departamento de Neurociências e Ciências do Comportamento, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo (FMRP-USP), Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

Abstract:

Social cognition is an important area that involves the ability to recognize the mental states of other persons, such as desires, beliefs, and feelings, and consequently, it differentiates them from their own mental states. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association launched the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) with important changes in the criteria for the diagnosis of dementia. Among the changes, it is worth highlighting the inclusion of social cognition. The section regarding neurocognitive disorders in the DSM-5 describes the recommended tests for each area’s assessment, considering that the tasks of facial emotion recognition and the theory of the mind were recommended for the assessment of social cognition. Despite the indication in the DSM-5, few resources are available for the assessment of this cognitive area among the elderly. This letter presents a translation and transcultural adaptation for Brazilian Portuguese of the Theory of Mind Task Battery (ToM TB). This is the first study that proposes the use of the ToM TB to evaluate theory of mind specifically in elderly. This task was chosen for these specific purposes because it is easy to understand and quick to apply.

Keywords:American Psychiatric Association ,neurocognitive disorders ,Theory of Mind Task Battery